A modern vehicle, including an automobile, an aircraft, and/or the like, includes a sensor system capable of monitoring and tracking the operating condition of various components of the vehicle. Problems identified in the operation of a component are reported to the vehicle's control and monitoring system. Furthermore, data regarding the operation of components of the vehicle can be downloaded to a maintenance system, or the like, e.g., when the vehicle is undergoing maintenance.
Wireless sensor nodes have been implemented in some vehicle applications. For many vehicle applications, power harvesting is limited to a small amount of power. As a result, typical wireless sensor nodes used in vehicle applications are severely power limited and have a very short (e.g., a few tens of feet) transmission range for any significant amount of data.
Mesh networking permits nodes in a network to relay data from other nodes which cannot communicate directly with a given node. However, these networks very quickly reach a saturation point in which data throughput becomes far lower than bandwidth would indicate, because most of the network's capacity is, in effect, taken up by the nodes determining which nodes can pass data onward, and via which other nodes. For example, the well-known “Zigbee” 802.15.4 protocol as usually implemented has a theoretical bandwidth of approximately 256 kbps, but in practice with a good-sized array will tend to reach only approximately 36 kpbs—or about 14% of the theoretical capacity. In one approach, a linear relay is implemented to partially alleviate the bandwidth problem, as there is no longer a need to negotiate which nodes can pass information and to where.